Monday, December 8, 2008

Possession

For some reason, I had resisted reading A.S. Byatt's Possession after it had been suggested in one of my first graduate classes. (We had a choice, reading Possession or read her Angels and Insects. I chose the later because it was the end of the semester and it was shorter). However, the other day, with nothing to read, I came across Possession in the library and decided to give it a try. I really enjoyed it, partly because it gives such a different perspective on academia. In this model, English studies is full of intrigue and romance - rather different than the actual experience (although I find it satisfying). I am still not a huge fan of the poets, still preferring Victorian fiction, but it is nice to think about how poems might have had personal context for the poets, rather than being something I have to read without any hope of understanding it.